Europe

03/01/1997

Europe

STEAG Industrie AG, Essen, Germany, a manufacturer of semiconductor wet processing equipment and CD resist processing equipment, has acquired a majority stake in A.S.T. Elektronik GmbH, a maker of rapid thermal processing equipment required for the production of ULSI chips. In 1996, the STEAG companies reached total sales of more than DM 300 million (about US$183 million) and employed about 750 people. A.S.T., based in Kirchheim near Munich, reached sales of about DM75 million (about US$45 million) last year and employed 200 people.

Lambda Physik,G?ttingen, Germany, a producer of excimer lasers, received the SEMATECH Outstanding Contribution Award 1996 for its 193-nm Optical Materials Damage Assessment Project. The project involves the study of optical materials in the areas of damage mechanisms, and damage and lens heating effects on image quality. The goals of the project are to evaluate optical materials, facilitate improvements, and define applicability for 193-nm optics.